The scourge of lobbying novices is “disrespect for the ill-formed,” 61 of whom were waiting for the Lobby School I would teach momentarily. “Habits of a Credible Lobbyist” was well-received but last-minute. For the good of our profession, please help make it better by adding your advice or deleting mine. The final Habits list will …
Habits of the Credible Lobbyist – Please Add Your Advice Read More »
Comptroller’s Revenue Forecast for 88th Texas Legislature: The legislature has a $32.7 billion budget surplus. The State is projected to have a record $188.2 billion in revenue available for general-purpose spending during the 2024-25 biennium, a 26.3 percent increase from the 2022-23 biennium. The legislature is expected to have an all-time high balance of $27.1 …
Texas State of Higher Education Address (2022)(“A”) and Building a Talent Strong Texas (2022)(“B”) emphasize credentials of value for post-secondary education: [A] goal for at least 60% of our entire working-age population to have a degree, certificate, or other credential of value by 2030… Texas is the first state to condition its goals for higher …
Texas’ “Credentials of Value” to Spur National Educational Renewal? – TBD Read More »
This is my third time coaching SNA members to advocate for better school nutrition. Equipping others to accomplish worthy goals is the greatest privilege of my professional life! (Check my client list for a sample of organizations that have taken my training.) **** Advocating for Your Programs at the State and Federal Level 1:00 pm—4:00 …
School Nutrition Association Advocacy Skills Training Read More »
My first job out of law school (1990) was lobbying, although I knew zero about it and had neither learning resources nor teachers. But over six years, by chairing a nationwide state lobbying campaign, lobbying Congress, several US states, Canada for another two years, and OECD in Helsinki, Mexico, and Washington, D.C., I learned something. …
Why Senior Lobbyists Teach Lobbying – Robert Guyer, to Jumpstart New Lobbying Careers Read More »
Ron Phillips is a long-time, well-established Washington, D.C. contract lobbyist, expert in military defense legislation, and vice-president and Washington, D. C. representative for German defense manufacturer KMW. He has co-lectured Lobby School seminars on the interface between state and federal lobbying (Course 7) and a D.C. lobbyist’s insider’s view of advocacy. Ron has contributed greatly …
Chris Micheli is a many published author and co-author of Guide to Executive Branch Agency Rulemaking, the manual on lobbying agencies prior to the statutorily mandated APA public notice of rulemaking. Prior to APA notice, agencies revise draft rule language, iron out technical and political rule-delaying problems, consider impacts and responses from potentially regulated parties, …
“Why would that (lawmaker, special interest, staff) (trade/exchange/barter) his or her (vote, endorsement, join our coalition) for what I am advocating?” Answering this question is fundamental to the planning and implementation of a successful advocacy campaign. Without the right answer, you are unlikely to get the vote, endorsement, coalition member, etc. So how do you …
If all my past, present, and future clients took your training it would make me a more effective lobbyist and make my job 100x’s simpler. David R. Custin, President David R. Custin & Associates, Inc. Miami, Florida Our six lobbying practice manuals, 15 topical videos, and three skills development workshops derive from universalities required by the US …
Can Lobbyists and Clients Achieve More Together? Read More »
State Government Affairs professionals, as we all do in our professional and personal lives, make many momentary acquaintances of mutual convenience. Among many acquaintances, we also make a few real friends. Paul Hallman, principal (today retired), MultiState Associates, started professionally as an acquaintance of convenience – a consultant – but over the years proved himself …
I owe my friends. After my 2019 TBI and during the pandemic, a time of zero public workshops, SGA friends hired me for private lectures and helped me write three new lobbying manuals. And as I write this, two SGA friends are helping me transition back into public workshop by telling their large email lists …
Thanks Again to My State Government Affairs Friends Read More »
Nonprofit Advocacy with Lawmakers – Download PowerPoint presentation (9 slides, July 13, 2022)
18-minute lecture on lobbying tailored to nonprofits followed by a 32-minute Q&A. 500+ registrants. You may download the live link PowerPoint
The 2021-22 US Supreme Court term will result in more citizen participation in setting public policy and thereby more work for lobbyists – federal, state, local, legislative and executive. Four rulings illustrate the court’s constitutional redirection vis-à-vis promoting lobbying[2]: Constitutional lineage[3],[4] shall prevail over judicial vogue.[5] Longevity of judicial vogue hallows not constitutionally bad Supreme …
US Supreme Court 2021-22 Term Invites More Lobbying Read More »
“How many of your employers evaluate you for job performance?,” I ask every Lobby School class. All hands raise. This question is followed by, “How many of your organizations evaluate your contract lobbyist for job performance?” Perhaps, 10 hands raised in the last 22 years. Generally, having 0-5 years of experience, most Lobby School students …
Managing Contract Lobbying: Arlington, Virginia May 24, 2022 Read More »
Accuracy and precision are foundational to products able to withstand assault whether from nature, opposing counsel, or agency PhDs. As an engineer, lawyer, and lobbyist I’ve seen trust turn to suspicion upon the proffer of incorrect information. Mistakes are taken as lies. And as all Lobby School students learn, scrupulous honesty is the sine qua …
Bringing Up a New Generation of Better Lobbyists. Thesis: conveying knowledge to better society realizes a basic public responsibility. Illustration: state constitutional obligations for free public education at taxpayer expense. Likewise, senior lobbyists passing our knowledge to the next generation of advocates will better novices’ professional lives, the process and quality of state lawmaking, and …
Lobby School workshops are bootcamp-style, applied-skills State Government Affairs professional training. Each session (3@4-8 hrs) is supported by 1 or more Insiders Talk operations manual(s) (5@100-488 pgs) and class workbooks (3@50-100 pgs). Written materials provide participants with greater and deeper practice details than can be presented in the classroom. Novices “jump-start” their careers. Veterans fill …
Three Skills Development State Lobbying Workshops, May 24-26 Arlington, VA Read More »
Part of a lobbyist’s job is to mitigate political damage from impetuous, undisciplined principals acting independently of Government Affairs (GA). Below are examples of: 1) injuries to a lobbying campaign, 2) the principal’s behavior that caused the injury, and 3) lobbyist mitigation of the injury. In all cases, meaningful GA-C-suite communication could have avoided these …
Lobbyist Reconcile Conflicting Interdependent Worlds Read More »
About one-third of my students’ employers hire contract lobbyists. Students occasionally comment, “We pay our [expletive deleted] contract lobbyists too much [expletive deleted] money for the [expletive deleted] service we get.” When I was a novice in-house lobbyist I felt the same. But the root of our problem is simple: most of us were just …
Lobbyists advocate. That’s what we do. Seldom do professional advocates pick and choose their advocacy topics. The C-suite assigns issues to in-house lobbyists. Clients, especially long-term ones, assign issues to their contract lobbyists. In this blog I consider how lobbyists can maintain their sense of personal decency while promoting issues: 1) in which they do …
… our DC lobbyist advised regarding our industry association’s effort to get Congress to “occupy the field” in the regulation of our products. We wanted one federal program to preempt an expanding “patchwork” of inconsistent, conflicting, and difficult to meet state laws. Federal preemption was indispensable to our problem-solving. As chair, at the time …
State Government Affairs (SGA) is a great field. Whether it’s one step on your path to upper management or it’s to be your career, SGA gives you the opportunity to prove to yourself and to your employers that you can learn to handle the arbitrary, wise, petty, noble, and the occasionally irrational, as power at …
Be the Best You Can Be on Your First Day in the Capitol Read More »
(Updated from December 6, 2021) Technical facts and data, indispensable to executive agencies, are often discounted in legislative policymaking. “Political Responses to Technical Facts” (v2) guides technical experts to become more aware of the political process. The legislative process is procedurally logical but often fact-based irrational. A lawmaker knowingly discounting my technical advice said, “In …
Political Responses to Technical Facts (updated) Read More »
Lobbying can be analogized as driving on a 3 pm urban Interstate. Drivers are traveling the legislative road because they expect it can change laws faster and cheaper than navigating the roads run by the executive and judicial branches. The legislature focuses on policy, is less constrained by technical facts (which agencies take care of), …
National state government affairs (SGA) lobbying initiatives can succeed at least 70 percent of the time when designed, implemented, and managed around the concept that lobbying is legislative sales. I say this even amidst the swelling and profound politico-cultural differences among red and blue states. There remains too much national commonality and consensus as to …
A household name organization[1], employing contract lobbyists in dozens of states, just hired me to train its state and national staff in overseeing contractor-provided lobbying services. Home office State Government Affairs (SGA) leadership expects increased involvement with lobbyists and lobbying campaigns: 1) will improve ROIs on lobbying fees and political capital; 2) achieve better, more …
“Most of the people in the state of Illinois, and I think this is true across the country, are much more affected in their daily lives by operation of the administrative and executive part of government than they are by 90 percent of the bills [of] the General Assembly.” Former Illinois Governor Dan Walker [1] …
A Statute Is the Starting Gun, Not the Checkered Flag in Phase II of Capital Lobbying Read More »
Google “lobbyist” and lobbyists’ ill deeds fill the first several pages of query results. Google’s first non-paid listing is, “The Best Books on Lobbying – Five Books.” I’ve read three of the five, none optimistic for our profession. These results explain the joke, “Don’t tell my mom I’m a lobbyist, she still thinks I’m a piano player in a whorehouse.” [1] I don’t know …
A lawmaker on whose election I worked copped[1] a plea to “knowingly accepting gifts from a lobbyist with a value of more than $100.” He claimed friendship, not votes, led the lobbyist to give him hotel rooms and a strip club visit. His, perhaps sincere but pitifully incorrect, legal theory resulted in a $4,000 fine …
“Trust but Verify.” Making Sure You Start Out Legal Read More »
If you don’t know what you are going to do before you run into a compromising situation, then you’ll probably make a bad decision. A long-term lobbying career is built upon reputation. Having worked for governments, corporations, and universities, I have found that legislatively enforced ethical expectations for honesty, accuracy, and credibility somewhat shield a …
Advice for New Lobbyists: Are You Resolved to Protect Your Integrity? Read More »
